'He Sticks up for the Parents'Author(s): Margery MooreSource: The Musical Times, Vol. 77, No. 1119 (May, 1936), p. 447Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/917786 .

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1THE MUSICAL TIMES 1THE MUSICAL TIMES 1THE MUSICAL TIMES 1THE MUSICAL TIMES

one of the time-dishonoured absurdities (as I dare to think them) when in the review of another book a member of your staff approves the assertion that 'if a couple of untrained adolescents manage to croon

and finger their way through the tenor chorale in " Sleepers, Wake "

they have put more Bach inside them than they could have got out of any Wednesday " Prom." ' This is an extreme utterance typically exemplifying the professional musicians' exaltation of any elemen- tary sort of 'doing' with fingers or voice and his relative depreciation of any sort of ' doing' with the ears-a heretical view fully discussed on my pages 119-128.

Since Stewart Macpherson (himself a fine pianist and a professor of composition and hence not to be accused of one-sidedness) began over a quarter of a century since to try to get the music-teaching pro- fession of this country to recognise the necessity for training the listening ear, as well as (not instead of) the performing finger and throat, a narrow conserva- tism and a blind professionalism have opposed the idea. Had he been warmly supported, had a real and wide effort been made to interest in serious music, the twenty or more successive batches of children who have since then entered and passed out of our schools our population would (as we surely now realise !) have been enormously better prepared to profit by the wonderful opportunity that we none of us then foresaw, with the laying on to almost every house of musical performance as though it were gas or electricity or ' company's water.'

You seem to think I have been thoughtlessly ' unfair' in my controversial practice ! The boot is on the other leg. The unfairness lies with the pro- fessional musicians and music critics who have continued (and still continue) to repeat over and over again arguments and statements that will not bear a moment's careful examination and that have, anyhow, been repeatedly answered.

And to how few of us has the answering been left I Musical Appreciation is a subject that does not interest me personally because for years I have not been engaged in teaching and there are other subjects to which I am trying to give my attention (and a lifetime is, alas! so short !). But somebody has to fight the cause of the children. I can honestly say, with one hand on the Bible and the other on my heart, that I hated having to write this book and that, though I made an effort to do my work on it in both as practical and as cheerfully readable a manner as I could, I grudged every moment spent on it because that moment was stolen from other work on which I was engaged (and incidentally that would have 'paid ' me far better).

I much approve your suggestion that I should prepare an abridged edition, omitting Part 2 and other passages of a ' debating' character. If by the time the first edition is sold there has come about a more rational attitude towards what is obviously at the present time the aspect of musical education most pressingly calling for serious attention, I shall be delighted to fall in with your suggestion. The contro- versial side of my book is not what I value: it is merely a necessary evil. What I do value is the constructive side and particularly the section of which you yourself kindly say, 'Teachers ought to study these pages closely '-the section not written by my- self, the one that collects information on ' experiments and experiences ' of teachers in almost every possible type of school and with almost every possible type of pupil.

In closing I would express disappointment that not a single one of my many reviewers has so much as mentioned one of my Appendixes that seems to me to call for immediate and thorough discussion by school music teachers-that which assembles the regulations of the various school-leaving examination bodies, so far as those concern the historical and appreciative

one of the time-dishonoured absurdities (as I dare to think them) when in the review of another book a member of your staff approves the assertion that 'if a couple of untrained adolescents manage to croon

and finger their way through the tenor chorale in " Sleepers, Wake "

they have put more Bach inside them than they could have got out of any Wednesday " Prom." ' This is an extreme utterance typically exemplifying the professional musicians' exaltation of any elemen- tary sort of 'doing' with fingers or voice and his relative depreciation of any sort of ' doing' with the ears-a heretical view fully discussed on my pages 119-128.

Since Stewart Macpherson (himself a fine pianist and a professor of composition and hence not to be accused of one-sidedness) began over a quarter of a century since to try to get the music-teaching pro- fession of this country to recognise the necessity for training the listening ear, as well as (not instead of) the performing finger and throat, a narrow conserva- tism and a blind professionalism have opposed the idea. Had he been warmly supported, had a real and wide effort been made to interest in serious music, the twenty or more successive batches of children who have since then entered and passed out of our schools our population would (as we surely now realise !) have been enormously better prepared to profit by the wonderful opportunity that we none of us then foresaw, with the laying on to almost every house of musical performance as though it were gas or electricity or ' company's water.'

You seem to think I have been thoughtlessly ' unfair' in my controversial practice ! The boot is on the other leg. The unfairness lies with the pro- fessional musicians and music critics who have continued (and still continue) to repeat over and over again arguments and statements that will not bear a moment's careful examination and that have, anyhow, been repeatedly answered.

And to how few of us has the answering been left I Musical Appreciation is a subject that does not interest me personally because for years I have not been engaged in teaching and there are other subjects to which I am trying to give my attention (and a lifetime is, alas! so short !). But somebody has to fight the cause of the children. I can honestly say, with one hand on the Bible and the other on my heart, that I hated having to write this book and that, though I made an effort to do my work on it in both as practical and as cheerfully readable a manner as I could, I grudged every moment spent on it because that moment was stolen from other work on which I was engaged (and incidentally that would have 'paid ' me far better).

I much approve your suggestion that I should prepare an abridged edition, omitting Part 2 and other passages of a ' debating' character. If by the time the first edition is sold there has come about a more rational attitude towards what is obviously at the present time the aspect of musical education most pressingly calling for serious attention, I shall be delighted to fall in with your suggestion. The contro- versial side of my book is not what I value: it is merely a necessary evil. What I do value is the constructive side and particularly the section of which you yourself kindly say, 'Teachers ought to study these pages closely '-the section not written by my- self, the one that collects information on ' experiments and experiences ' of teachers in almost every possible type of school and with almost every possible type of pupil.

In closing I would express disappointment that not a single one of my many reviewers has so much as mentioned one of my Appendixes that seems to me to call for immediate and thorough discussion by school music teachers-that which assembles the regulations of the various school-leaving examination bodies, so far as those concern the historical and appreciative

one of the time-dishonoured absurdities (as I dare to think them) when in the review of another book a member of your staff approves the assertion that 'if a couple of untrained adolescents manage to croon

and finger their way through the tenor chorale in " Sleepers, Wake "

they have put more Bach inside them than they could have got out of any Wednesday " Prom." ' This is an extreme utterance typically exemplifying the professional musicians' exaltation of any elemen- tary sort of 'doing' with fingers or voice and his relative depreciation of any sort of ' doing' with the ears-a heretical view fully discussed on my pages 119-128.

Since Stewart Macpherson (himself a fine pianist and a professor of composition and hence not to be accused of one-sidedness) began over a quarter of a century since to try to get the music-teaching pro- fession of this country to recognise the necessity for training the listening ear, as well as (not instead of) the performing finger and throat, a narrow conserva- tism and a blind professionalism have opposed the idea. Had he been warmly supported, had a real and wide effort been made to interest in serious music, the twenty or more successive batches of children who have since then entered and passed out of our schools our population would (as we surely now realise !) have been enormously better prepared to profit by the wonderful opportunity that we none of us then foresaw, with the laying on to almost every house of musical performance as though it were gas or electricity or ' company's water.'

You seem to think I have been thoughtlessly ' unfair' in my controversial practice ! The boot is on the other leg. The unfairness lies with the pro- fessional musicians and music critics who have continued (and still continue) to repeat over and over again arguments and statements that will not bear a moment's careful examination and that have, anyhow, been repeatedly answered.

And to how few of us has the answering been left I Musical Appreciation is a subject that does not interest me personally because for years I have not been engaged in teaching and there are other subjects to which I am trying to give my attention (and a lifetime is, alas! so short !). But somebody has to fight the cause of the children. I can honestly say, with one hand on the Bible and the other on my heart, that I hated having to write this book and that, though I made an effort to do my work on it in both as practical and as cheerfully readable a manner as I could, I grudged every moment spent on it because that moment was stolen from other work on which I was engaged (and incidentally that would have 'paid ' me far better).

I much approve your suggestion that I should prepare an abridged edition, omitting Part 2 and other passages of a ' debating' character. If by the time the first edition is sold there has come about a more rational attitude towards what is obviously at the present time the aspect of musical education most pressingly calling for serious attention, I shall be delighted to fall in with your suggestion. The contro- versial side of my book is not what I value: it is merely a necessary evil. What I do value is the constructive side and particularly the section of which you yourself kindly say, 'Teachers ought to study these pages closely '-the section not written by my- self, the one that collects information on ' experiments and experiences ' of teachers in almost every possible type of school and with almost every possible type of pupil.

In closing I would express disappointment that not a single one of my many reviewers has so much as mentioned one of my Appendixes that seems to me to call for immediate and thorough discussion by school music teachers-that which assembles the regulations of the various school-leaving examination bodies, so far as those concern the historical and appreciative

one of the time-dishonoured absurdities (as I dare to think them) when in the review of another book a member of your staff approves the assertion that 'if a couple of untrained adolescents manage to croon

and finger their way through the tenor chorale in " Sleepers, Wake "

they have put more Bach inside them than they could have got out of any Wednesday " Prom." ' This is an extreme utterance typically exemplifying the professional musicians' exaltation of any elemen- tary sort of 'doing' with fingers or voice and his relative depreciation of any sort of ' doing' with the ears-a heretical view fully discussed on my pages 119-128.

Since Stewart Macpherson (himself a fine pianist and a professor of composition and hence not to be accused of one-sidedness) began over a quarter of a century since to try to get the music-teaching pro- fession of this country to recognise the necessity for training the listening ear, as well as (not instead of) the performing finger and throat, a narrow conserva- tism and a blind professionalism have opposed the idea. Had he been warmly supported, had a real and wide effort been made to interest in serious music, the twenty or more successive batches of children who have since then entered and passed out of our schools our population would (as we surely now realise !) have been enormously better prepared to profit by the wonderful opportunity that we none of us then foresaw, with the laying on to almost every house of musical performance as though it were gas or electricity or ' company's water.'

You seem to think I have been thoughtlessly ' unfair' in my controversial practice ! The boot is on the other leg. The unfairness lies with the pro- fessional musicians and music critics who have continued (and still continue) to repeat over and over again arguments and statements that will not bear a moment's careful examination and that have, anyhow, been repeatedly answered.

And to how few of us has the answering been left I Musical Appreciation is a subject that does not interest me personally because for years I have not been engaged in teaching and there are other subjects to which I am trying to give my attention (and a lifetime is, alas! so short !). But somebody has to fight the cause of the children. I can honestly say, with one hand on the Bible and the other on my heart, that I hated having to write this book and that, though I made an effort to do my work on it in both as practical and as cheerfully readable a manner as I could, I grudged every moment spent on it because that moment was stolen from other work on which I was engaged (and incidentally that would have 'paid ' me far better).

I much approve your suggestion that I should prepare an abridged edition, omitting Part 2 and other passages of a ' debating' character. If by the time the first edition is sold there has come about a more rational attitude towards what is obviously at the present time the aspect of musical education most pressingly calling for serious attention, I shall be delighted to fall in with your suggestion. The contro- versial side of my book is not what I value: it is merely a necessary evil. What I do value is the constructive side and particularly the section of which you yourself kindly say, 'Teachers ought to study these pages closely '-the section not written by my- self, the one that collects information on ' experiments and experiences ' of teachers in almost every possible type of school and with almost every possible type of pupil.

In closing I would express disappointment that not a single one of my many reviewers has so much as mentioned one of my Appendixes that seems to me to call for immediate and thorough discussion by school music teachers-that which assembles the regulations of the various school-leaving examination bodies, so far as those concern the historical and appreciative

side of music teaching. It seems to me that some of these regulations include incredible anomalies and stupidities and it speaks badly for the alertness of our profession that, year after year, they go un- amended.-Yours, &c., PERCY A. SCHOLES.

Switzerland.

The Solo Tuba SIR,-The performance of Mr. Germani at the

Royal Albert Hall (and a most wonderful performance it was) has confirmed in my mind an opinion I have held for a long time-that the Continental organist does not understand or, perhaps I should more properly say, does not appreciate at its real value the English solo Tuba stop.

Without now giving a list of names, but bearing in mind those eminent organists we have recently been privileged to hear as well as others, I have noticed that all of them regard the Tuba purely as a chorus stop-one more reed to add to the' ensemble' when- ever a fff is required. The use of the stop as a solo effect accompanied, say, on the full Swell or Great diapasons or, again, in contrasted chords as a brass effect-one frequently employed by the British per- former-seems to be entirely unknown, or, does not occur to, the Continental organist. Is this due, possibly, to the fact that the stop does not, in fact, usually appear in, say, a French specification ?

I am sure the recitals of foreign artists lose a good deal in interest on this account, and probably what I may describe as the 'general chorus ' use of the stop so constantly, is due to the complaint sometimes heard that ' the organ is too loud.'

It would be churlish to criticise so marvellous and enjoyable an afternoon as that of March 15, but was there not sometimes this undiscriminating use of the solo Tuba ?-Yours, &c., E. H. WOODCOCK.

S.E.ll.

'He Sticks Up for the Parents' SIR,-Your correspondent 'Quaesivi' brings to my

notice the case of the Educated Parent. I am grate- ful to him for thus publicly expounding his pet theory; I wish there were more like him. I am glad he has pointed out that a minimum of teachers could avail themselves of his carte blanche as regards Bobby's musical education; I trust he has read in the April issue some of my complaints about teachers-from whom there is, on the whole, much to be desired.

And I hope that the Right Teacher will be found for Bobby. Will be found ? I am surely wrong: 'Qusesivi' will have found the paragon already. It only remains for me to wish all three of them better luck than might have attended their collaboration in less enlightened days.-Yours, &c.,

Plymouth. MARGERY MOORE.

The text of 'Sumer is icumen in,' &c. SIR,-It has been pointed out in your columns that

'Sumer is icumen in' really means 'Summer has come in.' May I now draw attention to the last line of this delightful round: 'Ne swik thu naver nu.' This is usually modernised as ' Nor cease thou never now.' A friend of mine who has studied the English of this period informs me that 'swik' could mean ' cease,' or, more commonly, 'trick' or 'deceive.' From the context I think the latter is the more likely meaning. If, therefore, the words must be modern- ised, I should like to see ' Now that summer has come in' for the first line, and ' Nor trick us never now' for the last. The final plural ' e' has worried many transcribers, and thus we get for 'And springth the w-de nu ' (' And spring the woods now') such mis- takes as 'Springs the wood enow' and 'Springs the

side of music teaching. It seems to me that some of these regulations include incredible anomalies and stupidities and it speaks badly for the alertness of our profession that, year after year, they go un- amended.-Yours, &c., PERCY A. SCHOLES.

Switzerland.

The Solo Tuba SIR,-The performance of Mr. Germani at the

Royal Albert Hall (and a most wonderful performance it was) has confirmed in my mind an opinion I have held for a long time-that the Continental organist does not understand or, perhaps I should more properly say, does not appreciate at its real value the English solo Tuba stop.

Without now giving a list of names, but bearing in mind those eminent organists we have recently been privileged to hear as well as others, I have noticed that all of them regard the Tuba purely as a chorus stop-one more reed to add to the' ensemble' when- ever a fff is required. The use of the stop as a solo effect accompanied, say, on the full Swell or Great diapasons or, again, in contrasted chords as a brass effect-one frequently employed by the British per- former-seems to be entirely unknown, or, does not occur to, the Continental organist. Is this due, possibly, to the fact that the stop does not, in fact, usually appear in, say, a French specification ?

I am sure the recitals of foreign artists lose a good deal in interest on this account, and probably what I may describe as the 'general chorus ' use of the stop so constantly, is due to the complaint sometimes heard that ' the organ is too loud.'

It would be churlish to criticise so marvellous and enjoyable an afternoon as that of March 15, but was there not sometimes this undiscriminating use of the solo Tuba ?-Yours, &c., E. H. WOODCOCK.

S.E.ll.

'He Sticks Up for the Parents' SIR,-Your correspondent 'Quaesivi' brings to my

notice the case of the Educated Parent. I am grate- ful to him for thus publicly expounding his pet theory; I wish there were more like him. I am glad he has pointed out that a minimum of teachers could avail themselves of his carte blanche as regards Bobby's musical education; I trust he has read in the April issue some of my complaints about teachers-from whom there is, on the whole, much to be desired.

And I hope that the Right Teacher will be found for Bobby. Will be found ? I am surely wrong: 'Qusesivi' will have found the paragon already. It only remains for me to wish all three of them better luck than might have attended their collaboration in less enlightened days.-Yours, &c.,

Plymouth. MARGERY MOORE.

The text of 'Sumer is icumen in,' &c. SIR,-It has been pointed out in your columns that

'Sumer is icumen in' really means 'Summer has come in.' May I now draw attention to the last line of this delightful round: 'Ne swik thu naver nu.' This is usually modernised as ' Nor cease thou never now.' A friend of mine who has studied the English of this period informs me that 'swik' could mean ' cease,' or, more commonly, 'trick' or 'deceive.' From the context I think the latter is the more likely meaning. If, therefore, the words must be modern- ised, I should like to see ' Now that summer has come in' for the first line, and ' Nor trick us never now' for the last. The final plural ' e' has worried many transcribers, and thus we get for 'And springth the w-de nu ' (' And spring the woods now') such mis- takes as 'Springs the wood enow' and 'Springs the

side of music teaching. It seems to me that some of these regulations include incredible anomalies and stupidities and it speaks badly for the alertness of our profession that, year after year, they go un- amended.-Yours, &c., PERCY A. SCHOLES.

Switzerland.

The Solo Tuba SIR,-The performance of Mr. Germani at the

Royal Albert Hall (and a most wonderful performance it was) has confirmed in my mind an opinion I have held for a long time-that the Continental organist does not understand or, perhaps I should more properly say, does not appreciate at its real value the English solo Tuba stop.

Without now giving a list of names, but bearing in mind those eminent organists we have recently been privileged to hear as well as others, I have noticed that all of them regard the Tuba purely as a chorus stop-one more reed to add to the' ensemble' when- ever a fff is required. The use of the stop as a solo effect accompanied, say, on the full Swell or Great diapasons or, again, in contrasted chords as a brass effect-one frequently employed by the British per- former-seems to be entirely unknown, or, does not occur to, the Continental organist. Is this due, possibly, to the fact that the stop does not, in fact, usually appear in, say, a French specification ?

I am sure the recitals of foreign artists lose a good deal in interest on this account, and probably what I may describe as the 'general chorus ' use of the stop so constantly, is due to the complaint sometimes heard that ' the organ is too loud.'

It would be churlish to criticise so marvellous and enjoyable an afternoon as that of March 15, but was there not sometimes this undiscriminating use of the solo Tuba ?-Yours, &c., E. H. WOODCOCK.

S.E.ll.

'He Sticks Up for the Parents' SIR,-Your correspondent 'Quaesivi' brings to my

notice the case of the Educated Parent. I am grate- ful to him for thus publicly expounding his pet theory; I wish there were more like him. I am glad he has pointed out that a minimum of teachers could avail themselves of his carte blanche as regards Bobby's musical education; I trust he has read in the April issue some of my complaints about teachers-from whom there is, on the whole, much to be desired.

And I hope that the Right Teacher will be found for Bobby. Will be found ? I am surely wrong: 'Qusesivi' will have found the paragon already. It only remains for me to wish all three of them better luck than might have attended their collaboration in less enlightened days.-Yours, &c.,

Plymouth. MARGERY MOORE.

The text of 'Sumer is icumen in,' &c. SIR,-It has been pointed out in your columns that

'Sumer is icumen in' really means 'Summer has come in.' May I now draw attention to the last line of this delightful round: 'Ne swik thu naver nu.' This is usually modernised as ' Nor cease thou never now.' A friend of mine who has studied the English of this period informs me that 'swik' could mean ' cease,' or, more commonly, 'trick' or 'deceive.' From the context I think the latter is the more likely meaning. If, therefore, the words must be modern- ised, I should like to see ' Now that summer has come in' for the first line, and ' Nor trick us never now' for the last. The final plural ' e' has worried many transcribers, and thus we get for 'And springth the w-de nu ' (' And spring the woods now') such mis- takes as 'Springs the wood enow' and 'Springs the

side of music teaching. It seems to me that some of these regulations include incredible anomalies and stupidities and it speaks badly for the alertness of our profession that, year after year, they go un- amended.-Yours, &c., PERCY A. SCHOLES.

Switzerland.

The Solo Tuba SIR,-The performance of Mr. Germani at the

Royal Albert Hall (and a most wonderful performance it was) has confirmed in my mind an opinion I have held for a long time-that the Continental organist does not understand or, perhaps I should more properly say, does not appreciate at its real value the English solo Tuba stop.

Without now giving a list of names, but bearing in mind those eminent organists we have recently been privileged to hear as well as others, I have noticed that all of them regard the Tuba purely as a chorus stop-one more reed to add to the' ensemble' when- ever a fff is required. The use of the stop as a solo effect accompanied, say, on the full Swell or Great diapasons or, again, in contrasted chords as a brass effect-one frequently employed by the British per- former-seems to be entirely unknown, or, does not occur to, the Continental organist. Is this due, possibly, to the fact that the stop does not, in fact, usually appear in, say, a French specification ?

I am sure the recitals of foreign artists lose a good deal in interest on this account, and probably what I may describe as the 'general chorus ' use of the stop so constantly, is due to the complaint sometimes heard that ' the organ is too loud.'

It would be churlish to criticise so marvellous and enjoyable an afternoon as that of March 15, but was there not sometimes this undiscriminating use of the solo Tuba ?-Yours, &c., E. H. WOODCOCK.

S.E.ll.

'He Sticks Up for the Parents' SIR,-Your correspondent 'Quaesivi' brings to my

notice the case of the Educated Parent. I am grate- ful to him for thus publicly expounding his pet theory; I wish there were more like him. I am glad he has pointed out that a minimum of teachers could avail themselves of his carte blanche as regards Bobby's musical education; I trust he has read in the April issue some of my complaints about teachers-from whom there is, on the whole, much to be desired.

And I hope that the Right Teacher will be found for Bobby. Will be found ? I am surely wrong: 'Qusesivi' will have found the paragon already. It only remains for me to wish all three of them better luck than might have attended their collaboration in less enlightened days.-Yours, &c.,

Plymouth. MARGERY MOORE.

The text of 'Sumer is icumen in,' &c. SIR,-It has been pointed out in your columns that

'Sumer is icumen in' really means 'Summer has come in.' May I now draw attention to the last line of this delightful round: 'Ne swik thu naver nu.' This is usually modernised as ' Nor cease thou never now.' A friend of mine who has studied the English of this period informs me that 'swik' could mean ' cease,' or, more commonly, 'trick' or 'deceive.' From the context I think the latter is the more likely meaning. If, therefore, the words must be modern- ised, I should like to see ' Now that summer has come in' for the first line, and ' Nor trick us never now' for the last. The final plural ' e' has worried many transcribers, and thus we get for 'And springth the w-de nu ' (' And spring the woods now') such mis- takes as 'Springs the wood enow' and 'Springs the

447 447 447 447 May, 1936 May, 1936 May, 1936 May, 1936

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 8 Dec 2014 13:41:39 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions